Generosity is not always appreciated, as demonstrated by the rather lukewarm reception given by some critics at the time to this splendid "Una faccia in prestito" (1995). Even after 10 years, as the author puts it "the reason is not understood": a Paolo Conte so overflowing with inventiveness hasn't been admired since the days of the double album "Aguaplano". The attempt to do things grandly is present here too: more than an hour of music, with little or no dead weight.

It is true that inevitably in a work of such large dimensions sooner or later one encounters something that perhaps could have been done without. In this case, it's a series of rather boozy songs, South American-Neapolitan delirium, especially concentrated in the second half of the album: I mention "Danson metropoli", "La zarzamora", "Vita da sosia". But it is also true that, although not memorable, they best represent the boisterous side of the Asti Lawyer, which resurfaces almost intact after being mysteriously lost since around the '80s, only to make a brief reappearance in "Aguaplano", perhaps his most varied album.
In short, this too is Paolo Conte, even the amusing "Quadrille", a slightly comical and somewhat medieval duet with the double bass player Jino Touche. A bit of lightness doesn't hurt, especially if it doesn't impose itself but rather coexists with the more enchanting side of his music, that of certain jazz gems that would have fared well even in that masterpiece of nostalgia that is "900": listen to believe the soft and buttery mix of horns, in the Coleman Hawkins style, in "Un fachiro al cinema" or the 1930s Louis Armstrong style trumpet in "Don't throw it into the W.C.".

But even Paolo Conte doesn't live on jazz alone, and perhaps never before in this album does he show himself open to other suggestions, with excellent results: African images and rhythms (always painted with "eleganza di zebra") in "Elisir", one of his fastest songs, sounds even more vaguely oriental, but with a good dose of irony, in "Sijmadicandhapajee" (Chinese? Japanese? Not at all, it's authentic Piedmontese dialect).
Very original as well is "Fritz", a twisted Brechtian march, an ideal frame for the portrait of a highly alcoholic character, a completely played-out clown. "Teatro" is probably the most engaging track, with its sustained bolero rhythm and its text full of fleeting and poignant images. The subtitle is "Orazione d'onore per il Teatro Alfieri di Asti, chiuso da tempo", and it alone manages to evoke, beyond the "vino del sipario", heroic performances of other times, now forgotten ("tanto qui nessuno si dispera"). As usual, Paolo Conte proves to be a master in composing slow, more or less jazzed tunes, like "Epoca" and "Le tue parole per me".
Among the slow ones stand out two true gems: one that someone would call the "title-track", "Una faccia in prestito", only for piano and voice, an inspired and melancholic motif, which in some ways anticipates the prevailing style in the latest "Elegia". The second, which closes the album, is "L'incantatrice", eight minutes of thrilling music, following the now-tested model of "Hemingway" and "Max" a quiet beginning with verses accompanied by the piano, pyrotechnic instrumental finale, with a true showcase of horn virtuosity.

The chills that assail us "da tutti i mille spifferi del nord" are just the last sensation this record gives us, where the Lawyer appears once again in a state of grace. Critics may have the right to demand more, but for me, it's more than enough.

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